Sensation

The New Science of Physical Intelligence

Like the revolutionary bestsellers Predictably Irrational and Emotional Intelligence , Sensation is an exciting, completely new view of human behavior--a new psychology of physical intelligence (or embodied cognition)--that explains how the body unconsciously affects our everyday decisions and choices, written by one of the world's leading psychologists.

Color and temperature, darkness and light, rough and smooth textures--all these sensations influence your inner world and your actions with unexpected power. In Sensation , one of the world's leading experts on human behavior, Dr. Thalma Lobel, shares an exciting, completely new view of physical intelligence, or embodied cognition. She reveals that physical experiences unconsciously affect your everyday decisions and choices--with profound implications for your everyday life.

Before you read the rest of this description, find a comfy place to sit and settle in with a mug of something warm. If you can, wrap yourself in a soft jacket, shawl, or blanket. Once you're warm and cozy, you'll warm to new ideas more quickly. Now listen: This book holds the power to change your life.

That sounds like a lofty claim, but if this book were ten pounds heavier, you might regard that claim as more believable. (Job seekers, take note: A resume printed on thin paper is taken less seriously than ones on thick paper.) If this copy were written

TOP TO BOTTOM

instead of SIDE TO SIDE

you'd be more likely to believe it. You might also pay more attention if this were printed on red paper--although that color would seriously undermine your reading comprehension. (Test takers, beware: Exposure to the color red significantly and consistently reduces performance. But a whiff of cinnamon may undo the damage.)

The more you know about how your physical environment influences your mind's interpretation of the world around you, the better you are able to navigate tricky waters and get to where you want to go. People with a sweet tooth seem kinder than others. Clean smells promote moral behavior, but people are more likely to cheat on a test right after having taken a shower. Hard surfaces make us inflexible. Sensation empowers you to recognize these outside forces and hidden biases, and even put them to use in your own life, in order to improve every facet of your personal and professional lives. The outside world shapes our perceptions and beliefs at every moment; Sensation reveals these hidden effects and lets you take control of your place in the world.

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I'd been hearing this term "physical intelligence" for a while now, and I have to admit I wasn't sure what it meant. Lobel's book clarified how this idea is both new - and old.

In brief (very brief), she explains how outside influences in the physical world may have an unconscious influence on the decisions we make or how one may react to certain situations. We want to believe only rational thought and complex, conscious decisions factor into the choices we make and the way we react to given scenarios. But Lobel presents verifiable, often repeated experiments to demonstrate the influence of "physical intelligence" has in our lives.

Lobels voice is engaging, and she presents the data in a plain spoken manner that keeps the material moving along as well as relating personal experiences regarding the topic. A good read for someone interested in a new area of psychological study who doesn't want to get bogged down in dry recitations of experiments and field tests.